CHINA

Taiwanese government officials are considering whether to buy dozens of F-16V jets from the United States for their country's air force, instead of picking up some F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters.

Taiwanese Defense Minister Yen Te-fa told reporters Thursday that "new blood" needed to be injected into the island nation's air defense forces. "As three types of the air force's major warplanes are reaching their mid-life phase, we will take into account purchasing of the [new warplanes] as long as they meet our defensive needs," he said.

Yen's remarks came on the heels of local media reports suggesting Taiwan was looking into purchasing 66 F-16V fighter jets. According to Taiwan News, the Republic of China Air Force would be replacing its fleet of F-5 fighters at the Zhi-Hang Air Base with an F-16V procurement.

The United States should boost its military presence in Djibouti and the region surrounding the Bab al-Mandab Strait to counter an increasingly assertive — and belligerent — China, say Israeli intelligence officials and independent experts.

China’s use last May of lasers to interfere with U.S pilots will be the least of problems the U.S faces in the region, they argue. (According to the Pentagon, two US military pilots suffered minor eye damage from lasers hitting the cockpit of their C-130 transport aircraft.) In fact, the US is already being forced to play catch up in the region, says Uzi Rabi, director of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, and a senior researcher at the Center for Iranian Studies, both at Tel Aviv University.

Earlier today, Trump's chief economic advisor Larry Kudlow poured cold water on expectations for an imminent resolution of the US-China trade war when he said that negotiations in the run up to this week's G-20 talks "haven't yielded any progress", and unless something changes, the "administration will move ahead with the next phase of tariffs."

"Things have been moving very slowly between the two countries," Kudlow said, adding that it was up to Xi to come up with new ideas to break the deadlock. And, echoing a report from the US Trade Representative published earlier this month, Kudlow said there hasn't been much of a change in China's approach. "We can’t find much change in their approach," Kudlow told reporters. "President Xi may have a lot more to say in the bilateral [with Mr Trump], I hope he does by the way, I think we all hope he does...but at the moment, we don‘t see it."

Webmaster's Commentary:

I hope these two are able to come to some broad "rapprochement" on the issue of trade; these sanctions have already cost American farmers dearly, and whole crops of Soybeans (which the Chinese love to buy from us), are having to be turned under for mulch because storage facilities can't take any more produce.

Spain will not sign on to China's ambitious "One Belt, One Road" initiative that seeks to better link Asia and Europe, a senior government official said Tuesday ahead of a visit by President Xi Jinping.

The multi-billion-dollar initiative, unveiled by Xi in 2013, aims to link the continents through a network of ports, railways, roads and industrial parks.

Beijing plans to develop the network through 65 countries representing an estimated 60 percent of the world's population and a third of its economic output.

So far, around 70 countries have signed a memorandum of understanding pledging their interest in the project -- an agreement that Beijing values as it seeks to expand its project.

In Europe, countries such as Poland and Greece have signed but the project has created considerable anxiety that it masks an attempted Beijing influence grab.

"We're not going to sign the initiative," said an official from the Spanish prime minister's office, who refused to be named.

President Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping will meet over dinner Saturday evening in Buenos Aires marking a pivotal moment in the escalating trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

Trump is hopeful for a breakthrough with Xi but is ready to impose more tariffs if the upcoming talks don’t yield progress, Larry Kudlow, Trump’s top economic adviser, told reporters Tuesday during a briefing ahead of the Group of 20 meeting in Argentina.

Webmaster's Commentary:

Fingers crossed that this one-on-one will start to ratchet down tensions here; both leaders have a lot at stake with their people at home, if these talks go "mammary glands north".

BEIJING, China – Between 2000 and 2014, more than 4,400 Chinese development projects were implemented in 138 countries around the world, making China one of the most important sources of economic infrastructure financing on several continents, but especially to some of the poorest countries. The report from the College of William and Mary (USA) research laboratory, AidData, provided data on Chinese investments that prove this trend of funding in developing countries. The three main goals of China’s economic expansion are to ensure the supply of raw materials, create markets for Chinese goods and services and allow the flow of technology to the Chinese economy, according to Chinese affairs expert Georgy Kocheshov. He believes that the Asian country adopts different strategies when investing in developing countries or in developed countries.

Located in the south of the South Pacific region, Australia is likely to become one of the first victims of the increasing tensions between its major trade partner, China, and its guardian and political ally, the U.S. For historical reasons, Australia shares with the West its values (whatever that means), vision and mission in the South Pacific, serving as an American military and geopolitical enclave from where the U.S. launches its hegemonic interests in Asia. On the other hand, Australia is a major raw materials exporter feeding the Chinese economy, from where Australia has benefited enormously. Suffice to say is that it was Australia the first Western country in getting out of the 2008 world financial crises. The dichotomy comes precisely from this dual partnership among two rival great powers. For many decades this dual, contradictory partnership was far from being problematic for Australia enabling it to feel safe geopolitically (through the U.S.

More than 100 scientists, most of them in China, have condemned a geneticist's claim that he altered the genes of twin girls born this month as 'crazy' and unethical.

In an open letter circulating online, the scientists said the use of CRISPR-Cas9 technology to edit the genes of human embryos was risky, unjustified and harmed the reputation and development of the biomedical community in China.

The Southern University of Science and Technology, where He Jiankuiholds an associate professorship, said it had been unaware of the research project and that Dr He had been on leave without pay since February.

China's National Health Commission added that it was 'highly concerned' and had ordered provincial health officials 'to immediately investigate and clarify the matter'.

One need only to look at North Korea and Iraq to see that the new oil embargo on Iran will fail too.
***
Not surprising, sanctions have rarely—if ever—succeeded in obtaining their desired results. The poster child for successful sanctions as a vehicle for change—divestment in South Africa during the 1980s in opposition to the Apartheid regime—is in reality a red herring. The South Africa sanctions were in fact counterproductive, in so far as they prompted even harsher policies from the South African government. The demise of Apartheid came about largely because the Soviet Union collapsed, meaning the South African government was no longer needed in the fight against communism.

Another myth that has arisen around sanctions is their utility in addressing nonproliferation issues. Since 1994, the U.S. has promulgated non-proliferation sanctions under the guise of executive orders signed by the president or statutes passed by Congress. But there is no evidence that sanctions implemented under these authorities have meaningfully altered the behaviors that they target.>>>

The Great Famine remains a taboo in China, where it is referred to euphemistically as the Three Years of Natural Disasters or the Three Years of Difficulties. Yang’s monumental account, first published in Hong Kong, is banned in his homeland.

He had little idea of what he would find when he started work: “I didn’t think it would be so serious and so brutal and so bloody. I didn’t know that there were thousands of cases of cannibalism. I didn’t know about farmers who were beaten to death.

“People died in the family and they didn’t bury the person because they could still collect their food rations; they kept the bodies in bed and covered them up and the corpses were eaten by mice. People ate corpses and fought for the bodies. In Gansu they killed outsiders; people told me strangers passed through and they killed and ate them. And they ate their own children. Terrible. Too terrible.”

According to Chinese medical documents posted online this month, a team at the Southern University of Science and Technology, in Shenzhen, has been recruiting couples in an effort to create the first gene-edited babies. They planned to eliminate a gene called CCR5 in hopes of rendering the offspring resistant to HIV, smallpox, and cholera.

A toxic chemical leak in southern China which put 52 people in hospital and has cost affected fishing villages millions of dollars in lost revenue was 10 times worse than previously reported.

Quanzhou city authorities on Sunday confirmed that 69 tonnes of the petrochemical C9 – a by-product of the oil refining process – had spilled into the local seawater, far in excess of the originally claimed seven tonnes.

Two officials have been sacked for negligence, in addition to the arrests of seven people for their roles in the incident.

Fishermen in Xiaocuo, the coastal village where the leak occurred, have consistently questioned the official version of events which began on November 4 when a tube carrying the toxic liquid from a local petrochemical plant to a tanker came loose.

Webmaster's Commentary:

This will be left to fester for years, along with the problems with other petrochemical plants, and lead to many health problems in the areas where these plants have been placed.

The German Foreign Minister has urged Russia and Ukraine to defuse tensions after their naval clash off the Crimean coast. Austria said that Kiev imposing martial law was a “worrying” step ahead of Ukraine’s presidential vote.

A brief but intense standoff between Ukrainian Navy ships and the Russian coast guard off the Crimean coast was an “alarming” event, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said. He called upon both sides to de-escalate tensions, while also criticizing Moscow for what he called “a blockade of a passageway to the Azov Sea.”

Speaking in Madrid, Maas also said that Germany and France could play the role of “mediators” between Russia and Ukraine “in case of need.” Berlin and Paris are ready to jointly step in at a diplomatic level to prevent “this conflict from exacerbating any further,” he said.

In a tentative indication that superpower influence in Asia is shifting away from the US and to China, two police officers were killed and a security guard wounded after three suicide attackers stormed the Chinese consulate in the diplomatic quarter of downtown Karachi in southern Pakistan amid a series of gunshots and an explosion on Friday, but were killed before they could get into the building in a car packed with explosives, Reuters reported citing police.

Brazen terror pic.twitter.com/Dlqn7V5F6Z

— Syed Talat Hussain (@TalatHussain12) November 23, 2018
All Chinese staff at the consulate were safe, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and China’s foreign ministry said. Notably, this was one of the first times a Chinese offshore mission was the target of local insurgents, not the traditionally "imperialistic bogeyman", the United States.

By reaching out to Japan and reassuring India, China can stop the Quad before it even starts
Vasilis Trigkas says the US has the determination and military credibility to make the Quad into an Asian Nato. But the alliance won’t work unless all partners are on board, and China can sink it with some careful strategic outreach

The recent war of words between China and the US at the Apec summit in Papua New Guinea stunned geopolitical pundits around the world and attests to the ominous dynamics in the Asia-Pacific. As the two nations increasingly see issues in terms of security, there is a real danger of matters escalating into a strategic competition for regional alliances.

Just two days before the opening of the summit, an informal meeting took place in Singapore. There, US Vice-President Mike Pence met the leaders of India, Japan and Australia. This was the third meeting of leaders of the four democratic Asia-Pacific states known as “the Quad”, and while the structure has not been institutionalised into an alliance, American strategists have called for the crystallisation of an archipelagic Nato.

Never has the United States faced a challenger with the geo-economic and military might of China>>>

A bipartisan commission appointed by Congress issued a lengthy report Tuesday backing the Pentagon’s plans to prepare for a “great-power” war against Russia, China, or both, making clear that the Trump administration’s belligerent policies are shared by the Democratic Party.

Safe in the knowledge that its findings will never be seriously reported by the mass media, the authors of this report do not mince words about what such a war will mean. A war between the United States and China, which according to the report might break out within four years, will be “horrendous” and “devastating.” The military will “face greater losses than at any time in decades.” Such a war could lead to “rapid nuclear escalation,” and American civilians will be attacked and likely killed.

All eyes on Buenos Aires as Beijing and Washington hammer out the details for the high-stakes summit between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump

Beijing and Washington are talking frequently as they nail down the details for President Xi Jinping’s dinner meeting with US President Donald Trump in Buenos Aires on December 1, with a major issue being the number of aides each leader will be allowed to bring to the parley, sources said.

“One big issue is to determine who will sit at the table,” a source briefed on the progress of the preparations for the leaders’ first face-to-face sit-down in a year told the South China Morning Post.

Referring to the possible groupings of leaders and aides being considered, the source said: “On each side of the dinner table, it could be one plus two, one plus four, or one plus six”.

>>>

(*ANOTHER opportunity for Trump to demonstrate his mastery of The Art Of The Deal !)

A bilateral currency swap agreement worth $28.81 billion has been clinched between China and Indonesia, China’s central bank announced on Monday.

According to the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the three-year deal is aimed at facilitating bilateral trade, boosting mutual investments, and maintaining financial market stability. It will reportedly allow the partners to swap a total of 200 billion yuan for 440 trillion Indonesian rupiah, and vice versa.

The deal, signed at the annual meeting of leaders of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), comes as an extension of the previously sealed agreement and doubles the amount of local currency exchanged between the central banks of the two countries.

We can be reasonably certain that Chinese government officials approaching middle age have been heavily westernised through their education. Nowhere is this likely to matter more than in the fields of finance and economics. In these disciplines there is perhaps a division between them and the old guard, exemplified and fronted by President Xi. The grey-beards who guide the National Peoples Congress are aging, and the brightest and best of their successors understand economic analysis differently, having been tutored in Western universities.

It has not yet been a noticeable problem in the current, relatively stable economic and financial environment. Quiet evolution is rarely disruptive of the status quo, and so long as it reflects the changes in society generally, the machinery of government will chug on. But when (it is never “if”) the next global credit crisis develops, China’s ability to handle it could be badly compromised.

But my vote for the most magnificent nut in an Administration that is overflowing with such talent would be the esteemed United States Special Representative for Syria Engagement James Jeffrey. The accolade is in part due to the fact that Jeffrey started out relatively sane as a career diplomat with the State Department, holding ambassadorships in Iraq, Turkey, and Albania. He had to work hard to become as demented as he now is but was helped along the way by signing on as a visiting fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), which is a spin-off of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

Webmaster's Commentary:

It appears to me, that my brother and sister Americans are back to a status quo ante, a status of feudal vassals, as we were before the American revolution.

And why do I say this?

Although this can be expressed as a grasp of the in-your-face obvious,the cold, hard reality that the government is only responsive to the already monied, to and certain foreign governments, Israel being among the worst offenders, in terms of having very effectively hijacked American foreign policy to their own ends.

What is great for Israel, is not at all necessarily good for We the People.

Yes, there are moments when a common good for both countries align; but in the world of the 21st century, those moments are consistently fewer and farther between, particularly when comes to the Zionist vision of "Eretz Israel", which means carving off hunks of adjacent countries to perfect and achieve that vision.

Notice the hunks of Iraq, Syria, Saudia Arabia, Jordan,Lebanon, Egypt and Iraq which will have to be conquered by Israel in order for this "vision" of Eretz Israel to be achieved?!?

It is no accident that Israel cheered for the US invasion and occupation of Iraq; it is no accident that they have cheered the illegal and unwanted US military actions against Syria, including funding and arming the jihadists against the government; it is no accident that they have started the "political rapprochement" process with Saudi Arabia, which they are hoping to use as a proxy force against Iran, working with the US military, as they have been doing in Yemen; and it is no accident that Israel fully expects the US to go to war against Iran for it.

But as always with Israel, these "wins" are only to be purchased primarily at the cost of American blood, and American money.

I look at the media buys the military has been doing lately, with a lot of saturation ads, to encourage our young men and women to join; but the US military is in one horrifically awful dilemma right now.

They don't have the troop strength; the weaponry; the manufacturing (outsourced in the 80s, to make way for the alleged "service economy")or the money to insure a successful outcome to a conventional war against Russia and/or China.

With the mid-terms over, before there is a war against Russia, China, and/or Iran, I would not bet against the re-institution of the draft, coupled with continuing demonization of Russia, China, and Iran.

Please remember the following reality, as stated on Google:

"Virtually all male U.S. citizens, regardless of where they live, and male immigrants, whether documented or undocumented, residing in the United States, who are 18 through 25, are required to register with Selective Service. The law says men must register with Selective Service within 30 days of their 18th birthday."

Don’t blame China’s slowing demand for the fall in oil prices. Instead, look to US sanctions (and waivers) on Iran
***
Certainly, the oil cartel Opec has been cutting its forecast for demand next year. While in July, it expected demand in 2019 to rise by 1.45 million barrels per day, by this month, it had lowered that expectation to an increase of 1.29 million bpd.

Equally certainly, as a huge oil importer, China will have been on Opec’s mind. Its forecasters will have observed analysts’ notes about a potential slowing in the pace of China’s economic growth, both as a consequence of the need for the Chinese economy to deleverage but also due to uncertainties caused by the deterioration of China-US trade relations after Washington started rolling out tariffs on Chinese goods at the start of 2018.

Fear of lower future demand would explain the slide in the price of oil. And those who buy into that explanation might rationally see better value in the currencies of major oil-importing countries, such as China, India and Japan, who stand to benefit from a lower crude price and less worth in those of oil exporters.

Another year, another jump in the number of people living below the poverty line. But we can always count on Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung to tell us that everything is fine and dandy.

A fifth of the city’s population, or 1.377 million people, are destitute, according to the latest official figures. This means an increase of 0.2 percentage points to 20.1 per cent; not a big jump? Well, it’s still the highest since 2010. And, during this whole time, our economy was expanding.

(*Here's how to deal with it Call Hong Kong a schitthole city , and then blame it for every affluent Chinese citizen's expensive drug problem . Then start dicking with the rest of the world so that there is no time or money to address your own pittiful status .
Throw in the one about a good economy at every chance .
And Remember It's ALWAYS Somebody Elses Fault !
Now Go Get ' Em , Grasshopper !)

...What matters most for China is Afghanistan becoming part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). That’s exactly what Chinese envoy Yao Jing told the opening session of the 4th Trilateral Dialogue in Islamabad earlier this week between China, Pakistan and Afghanistan. “Kabul can act as a bridge to help expand connectivity between East, South and Central Asian regions,” Jing said. Pakistani Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed said: “The Greater South Asia has emerged as a geo-economic concept, driven by economy and energy, roads and railways and ports and pipelines, and Pakistan is the hub of this connectivity due to CPEC.” For Beijing, CPEC can only deliver its enormous potential if Pakistan and India relations are normalized. And that road goes right through Afghanistan. China has been aiming for an opening for years. Chinese intel operatives have met the Taliban everywhere from Xinjiang to Karachi and from Peshawar to Doha. The China card is immensely alluring.

China has just dumped its biggest load of United States treasuries in 8 months. China’s share of US Treasuries holdings had the highest decline since January back in September, as the ongoing and ever-increasing trade tensions with Washington forced the world’s biggest economy to take measures to stabilize its national currency.

And in order to stabilize their own currency, the Chinese will take shots at the U.S. dollar. Although the country is still the biggest foreign holder of the U.S. foreign debt, China has slashed it’s share by nearly $14 billion, with the country’s holdings falling to $1.15 trillion from nearly $1.17 trillion in August, according to the latest data from the Treasury Department. The fall marks the fourth straight month of declines, according to a report by RT. China is followed Japan’s lead, as their share of U.S. Treasuries fell to $1.03 trillion, the lowest since October of 2011.

In September, China’s share of US Treasuries holdings had the highest decline since January as ongoing trade tensions with Washington forced the world’s biggest economy to take measures to stabilize its national currency.

Still the biggest foreign holder of the US foreign debt, China slashed it’s share by nearly $14 billion, with the country's holdings falling to $1.15 trillion from nearly $1.17 trillion in August, according to the latest data from the Treasury Department. The fall marks the fourth straight month of declines. China is followed by Japan, whose share of US Treasuries fell to $1.03 trillion, the lowest since October 2011.

A new report is saying that the United States military has reached crisis mode. The country could “struggle to win” or just as easily lose a war to either Russia or China.

The U.S. “could suffer unacceptably high casualties and loss of major capital assets in its next conflict,” the National Defense Strategy Commission says, according to NBC News. The historic military supremacy of the U.S. has eroded drastically, leaving the country likely unable to fight more than a single war at a time, according to a congressionally chartered report released Wednesday.

The United States is facing a national security and military crisis and could lose in a war against Russia or China, a bipartisan congressional panel warned in a report on Wednesday (Nov 14).

Congress had tasked the National Defence Strategy Commission to look at President Donald Trump's sweeping National Defence Strategy (NDS), which highlights a new era of "Great Power competition" with Moscow and Beijing.

The panel, run by a dozen former top Democratic and Republican officials, found that just as the US military faced budget cuts and diminishing military advantages, authoritarian nations like China and Russia are pursuing buildups aimed "at neutralising US strengths."

'US to Sail and Fly Wherever International Law Allows': Mike Pence Says Disputed South China Sea Belongs to Nobody
The United States seeks to ward off spreading Chinese influence in Asia's seas by practicing "freedom of navigation" operations - naval and aerial activity in what China believes to be its own territory.

US Vice President Mike Pence has said that the contested South China Sea isn't the domain of any country, challenging Beijing's claims to the resource-rich region.

"The South China Sea doesn't belong to any one nation, and you can be sure: the United States will continue to sail and fly wherever international law allows and our national interests demand," Pence said on Friday.

In geopolitics events are rarely what they seem to be. This is especially true when we look more closely at the otherwise bizarre “war” launched this spring under the guise of trade war, supposedly redressing America’s huge annual balance of trade deficits, the most extreme being that with China. The true driver behind Washington’s otherwise inexplicable tariff war attacks on especially China make sense when we view them through the prism of a new Administration report on the defense industrial base of the United States .

China asks the United States not to exaggerate its compliance with the international law and not to accuse other countries of violating the international norms, China's Foreign Ministry’s Spokesperson said on Thursday.

"He [Vice President's Mike Pence] demanded that China must respect the international law. I would like to say that China is a good example [for other countries] in terms of respect for international law. I saw that recently Russian Foreign Ministry’s Spokeswoman [Maria] Zakharova spent 15 minutes of a press briefing in order to mention US violations and denouncement of the international treaties. That is why I sincerely recommend some US officials not to exaggerate their [compliance with the international law] and blame others," Hua Chunying said, Asia News reported.

Chinese researchers pushing to find a major clean energy source have created an incredible artificial sun that can reach temperatures of 100 million degrees Celsius – a heat so intense it makes the real sun seem merely lukewarm.

The earth-based solar simulator has reached mind-bending temperatures of 100 million degrees Celsius, the research team announced Tuesday. Now, that’s hot. For comparison, the real sun’s core is about 15 million degrees Celsius.

The Institute of Plasma Physics, affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said it has been testing an “artificial sun,” known as the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST). The sci-fi-sounding contraption has been designed to replicate the way in which the star at the center of our solar system generates its colossal energy.

The Washington Post's Josh Rogin has revealed stunning comments issued by Vice President Mike Pence during a conversation between the two aboard Air Force Two as the VP traveled for an official trip to Asia this week, where he landed in Singapore for regional summits highlighting Indo-Pacific security, trade and investment.

Pence reportedly said the White House is prepared to undertake take dramatic policy changes regarding China if Beijing does not capitulate to its demands as the trade war continues. In addition to the issue of tariffs, pressing security issues include the US demanding Chinese cessation of what's reported to be widespread intellectual property theft and refusal to recognized America freedom of navigation through and above the South China Sea.

According to Rogin, Pence went so far as to speak of "an all-out Cold War" during the interview, promising that:

Webmaster's Commentary:

I would like to politely remind Vice President Pence, how trade wars have a very nasty way of evolving into a hot wars

Chinese telecoms giant ZTE is helping Venezuela build a system that monitors citizen behavior through a new identification card. The "fatherland card," already used by the government to track voting, worries many in Venezuela and beyond.

With the recent media coverage surrounding China’s alleged re-education camps, many Americans are having a knee-jerk reaction, both pro and con, to the claims by Western MSM outlets regarding the nature of the Chinese police state in Xinjiang.

Is China really operating a network of concentration camps or is it really just arresting terrorists and trying to get a handle on the growing terrorist threat in the province? Is it really providing “vocational” training or is it attempting to push state indoctrination into the minds of an entire ethnic group?

Amid China's worsening trade-war fueled economic slide, the Communist country's April decision to slap a 25% tariff on imports of US soybeans has remained one of its most rewarding retaliatory maneuvers. So far, at least, the food-price inflation that many feared would follow hasn't materialized - while the plunge in soybean purchases (imports to China fell 94% between the beginning of September and mid-October) has helped maximize the pressure on Trump-supporting farmers in North Dakota, Iowa and across the US farm belt.

In the late 1950s, relation between the two biggest communist nations—the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union—soured because of differing political ideologies, and for a while it appeared as if a major conflict was imminent—a war where neither country would hesitate to use nuclear weapons.

CH-7 - a charcoal-grey UAV unveiled at the air show - is the length of a tennis court with a 22-metre (72-feet) wingspan. It can fly at more than 800 kilometres (500 miles) per hour and at an altitude of 13,000 metres (42,650 feet).

he US pressed China to halt militarization of the South China Sea during a joint news conference on talks aimed at smoothing already tense relations ahead of this month's G20 summit in Argentina.

“We have continued concerns about China's activities and militarization in the South China Sea,” US Secretary for State Mike Pompeo told media following talks on Friday with US Defence Secretary James Mattis and their Chinese counterparts.

We pressed China to live up to its past commitments in this area,” he added.

In response, Chinese Politburo member Yang Jiechi said the situation in the South China Sea was “treading towards greater stability,” but rebuked Washington over its sending of warships and military aircraft near Chinese islands and reefs, in what he described as actions that undermined Chinese interests.

Webmaster's Commentary:

War with China?!?

Just because it would be the most ham-fistedly, pig-headedly stupid thing for the US to do, is no guarantee that it will not do it.

And right now, if you have read any of my blogs this morning, about how the US is falling further behind in its weaponry, vis a vis the Chinese and Russians, you will understand that this country should be making every effort to avoid a military confrontation with either, or both, countries.

The J-20 stealth jets were first unveiled to the public at Airshow China 2016.

Wei Dongxu, a Beijing-based military expert, told the Global Times on Tuesday that the J-20s sported a new camouflage look for improved stealth capability.

It seems that China's fifth-generation stealth capabilities could be on par with the US. This threat will certainly not going unanswered by the West. China is preparing for war with new stealth technology, as a trade war between both countries is spiraling out of control. When trade stops, that is when a hot conflict could develop over the South China Sea.I

Webmaster's Commentary:

The question is not why China has this technology, but why isn't the US military industrial complex way ahead of them with this kind of technology?!?

Regular readers of Zero Hedge are probably familiar with money-for-oil loans. But one liquidity-challenged pork producer is pushing an absurd twist on that concept that has helped to expose the financial dysfunction at many small- and medium-sized Chinese companies.

Instead of receiving cash, holders of local-currency bonds issued by Zhengzhou-based pork producer Chuying Agro-Pastoral Group Co will be paid with the company's ham, thanks to an agreement reached between the company and its creditors. Assuming the agreement, which was revealed in a security filing on the Shenzen Stock Exchange, holds, the "in kind" payments will only apply to the interest on the bonds, according to the South China Morning Post.

Webmaster's Commentary:

This appears rather bizzare; one has to wonder just how long this business will be paying bondholders with product, rather than currency.

According to The South China Morning Post, "some of China's smartest students have been recruited straight from high school to begin training as the world's youngest AI weapons scientists." A total of 27 boys and four girls all under the age of 18 were chosen for the four-year "experimental program for intelligent weapons systems" at the Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) from more than 5,000 candidates. From the report:The BIT is one of the country's top weapons research institutes, and the launch of the new program is evidence of the weight it places on the development of AI technology for military use. "These kids are all exceptionally bright, but being bright is not enough," said a BIT professor who was involved in the screening process but asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the subject. "We are looking for other qualities such as creative thinking, willingness to fight, a persistence when facing challenges," he said.

Webmaster's Commentary:

Again here, the problem is not that China is doing this; the problem is that the US really has no similar programs to offer its young, gifted people, but without the strictures of a totalitarian form of government.

And about the issue of "patriotism"; patriotism is earned by a government performing its job intelligently and effectively, and without expropriating the resources of other countries and selling them only for the US dollar, through war and destabilization, which has been the US government's MO far too long.

I wish that this government would realize that the size of its national debt is really a challenge to its long-term survival.

I also wish that the deep state corruption, which is generational in this government, could be rooted out.

I also wish that this country would not aid and abet the war crimes of other nations.

I also wish that this country didn't torture, or outsource torture.

With these things sorted, I could become very patriotic, instead of perpetually, deeply concerned about the trajectory of US foreign and domestic policies, and their implications.

China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” is famous as an extension of their domestic infrastructure investments, but Russia is also investing heavily in infrastructure. Both countries need to do it in order to improve the future for their respective populations, and both Governments have avoided the Western development model of going heavily into debt in order to pay for creating and maintaining infrastructure. Both are, in fact, exceptionally low-debt Governments.

According to the “Global Debt Clock” at Economist, China has a public debt/GDP of 17.7%, and Russia’s is 8.0%. For comparison, America’s is 93.6%. (Others are: Germany 85.8%, Spain 91.2%, Italy 122.6%, Greece 147.1%, India 54.2%, Pakistan 47.0%, and Brazil 55.0%.)

Webmaster's Commentary:

Unfortunately for Russia and China, there are folks in the bowels of power in DC who are very urgently preparing for just such a war between the US, Russia, and China. As reported last year by Paul Craig Roberts:

I would suggest that the phrase "March Madness" may have an entirely new meaning, should those exercises be signed off on, and realized by both countries.

And I say that because a US-generated war with Russia (and/or China) would horrifically reflect the madness of this country's leadership, in not realising that war with these countries may not be winnable, because the US military doesn't have the money, the troop strength, the manufacturing, or the weaponry to insure a positive outcome for the US.

Things are again rapidly heating up in the East China Sea amidst already heightened tensions in a region where Washington is increasingly asserting the right of navigation in international waters against broad Chinese claims and seeking to defend the territorial possessions of its allies.

According to a bombshell new Reuters report the tiny and rocky Senkaku Islands which lie between northern Taiwan and the Japanese home islands are “rapidly turning into a flashpoint for war”. Alarmingly, Japanese government sources have been quoted as saying Tokyo and the United States are drawing up an operations plan for an allied military response to Chinese threats to the disputed Senkaku Islands.

From nearly the start of his entering the White House, President Trump has said he’s committed to upholding Article 5 of the US-Japan security treaty signed the post-war years of the mid-20th century:

Webmaster's Commentary:

This would be the most dangerous game of "chicken" ever played out by US and Japanese military service members against China; I would really like some thoughts emanating from the White House or State Department, indicating that such an action would never be undertaken.

However, unfortunately, I have lived long enough to understand that just because something is the most ham-fistedly, pig-headedly stupid thing the US government and military could possibly do, there is absolutely no guarantee that they will not do it.

Communicating is the most vulnerable element in any foreign agent operation, particularly as counter-intelligence services commit major resources to cracking the systems used to link an agent in the field with his case officer or handler, who might be in the same country under diplomatic cover but just as easily might be in another nearby country or halfway around the world.

Webmaster's Commentary:

I am having a double Jean-luc Picard face-palm, at velocity, upon reading this.

The ongoing trade conflict with Washington is forcing China to look for new suppliers of day-to-day produce to the domestic market. Russia is expected to be the answer when it comes to soybeans and other goods.

According to Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, the country may partially replace US as the leading exporter of soybeans to China. The nations are also planning to work more closely on deliveries of other agricultural goods, including pork, rice, poultry, fish, as well as developing joint logistics projects.

The United States and China are set to go head-to-head over disputes in relation to Taiwan and the South China Sea, with deadly consequences on the immediate horizon.

You wouldn’t know it with all the media hype over the US mid-term elections, but the US and China are on a deadly collision path in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait. In the last two months, the US military has flown B-52 bombers and carried out its so-called “freedom of navigation” operations in the South China Sea. There have also been instances of US warships sailing through the Taiwan Strait in support of Taiwan, an island which China considers to be a rogue part of Chinese territory.

On a side note, it is amazing to say the least that the US believes it should have the “freedom to navigate” in the South China Sea, yet seems to get up in arms when Iranian ships expect the same kind of freedom in the Persian Gulf.

Things are again rapidly heating up in the East China Sea amidst already heightened tensions in a region where Washington is increasingly asserting the right of navigation in international waters against broad Chinese claims and seeking to defend the territorial possessions of its allies.

According to a bombshell new Reuters report the tiny and rocky Senkaku Islands which lie between northern Taiwan and the Japanese home islands are "rapidly turning into a flashpoint for war". Alarmingly, Japanese government sources have been quoted as saying Tokyo and the United States are drawing up an operations plan for an allied military response to Chinese threats to the disputed Senkaku Islands.

China on Tuesday unveiled the CH-7 unmanned aerial vehicle, its most advanced combat drone, at the country's biggest air show in the southern state of Zhuhai.
The 12th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition will also showcase the J-20 stealth fighter jets to woo aviation enthusiasts and potential buyers.
The latest edition of the biennial exhibition, also known as Airshow China, will have 770 exhibitors from 43 countries.

Although the incident occurred in late September, some details, namely a transcript of the verbal exchange between the crews of both ships, have surfaced only now. According to Chinese authorities, the country’s destroyer lawfully reacted to a foreign ship entering their sovereign waters.

An unnamed UK defense company has been granted a license to supply an unlimited quantity of goods to China's military, "including airborne radar technology likely to be used by the PLA Air Force," reports Stephen Chen of SCMP.

The contract governed by an "open individual export license (OIEL)" has been active since April, two months after Prime Minister Theresa May visited Beijing, as made public by Britain's Department for International Trade.

Unlike previous deals involving British arms sales to China, which were capped by amount and value, under the new agreement the supplier can “export an unlimited quantity of goods”, including equipment, components, software and technology for military radar systems, the department said.

Its strategic export control database described the equipment covered by the licence as “target acquisition, weapon control and countermeasure systems” for “aircraft, helicopters and drones”. -SCMP

That was the overriding message delivered by Chinese President Xi Jingping during his address at the International Import Expo Opening Ceremony in Shanghai on Monday, which featured more than 3,600 companies from 172 countries, regions and organizations, and where Xi urged critics of China's policies to worry about their own problems before opining on China's, according to the FT.

"Each country should work hard to improve its own business environment. One cannot always beautify oneself while criticising others, and one can’t shine a flashlight on other people without looking at oneself," said Mr Xi.

Webmaster's Commentary:

President Xi seems to be drawing his line in the sand, against the US's actions, including punishing tariffs against Chinese goods.

The problem, however, is that everyone in this country who needs to buy goods from China, is also getting punished by these tariffs.

And the question I hope President Trump and his advisors are asking, is what would China really want to buy from the US?!? It's certainly not our chemical-laden agriculture; it won't be our weapons, as China has, in many instances, surprised and surpassed the US recently, with its drive toward superior weaponry.

I would suggest that President Trump think about focusing in advances in licensed, high-tech research, with generous start-up money, in public/private partnerships. This could make the US the envy of the world, with numerous tech "incubators", and might be a solid avenue of exploration for trade with China.

And in my world, trade trumps war any day.

I am hoping that in a meeting in the sidelines with President Trump, at the G 20 in Buenos Aires, Argentina at the end of this month, that Trump will have something to offer Xi other than more tariffs; if not, I will very concerned about how the possibility of a trade war morphing into an actual shooting war,and quickly, if these issues remain unresolved.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu’s recent remarks echoed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s earlier call to put an end to the dollar’s domination and begin trading in national currencies.

Delivering an opening speech at the 18th session of the D-8 Council of Foreign Ministers in Antalya, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced that Ankara was looking to engage in trade with Russia, China and Iran using national currencies.

“We are experiencing a period of trade wars. The best response against this would be using our local currencies in trade. Turkey is preparing to do trade in local currencies with countries such as China, Russia, Iran and Ukraine. We also continue such negotiations with other countries,” he said.

Webmaster's Commentary:

So, what happens when no one wants to use the US dollar anymore with which to buy goods and services?!? What happens when to the American economy when that happens?!?

If I have ever seen economic stupidity writ large, it is President Trump's sanctions against Russia, China, and Iran, which is forcing them to work even more closely together economically, and militarily.